The Sega Arcade Revolution

Ken Horowitz is a professor of English and has written about Sega and video games for over a decade for his website, Sega-16, as well as for numerous other websites and magazines. He lives in Puerto Rico.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments

Preface

The Arcade Origins of Sega

The Early Years (1945–1965) 3 • Sega Hits Arcade Gold (1966–1968) 6 • 

Periscope (March 1968) 8 • Missile (Circa April 1969) 11

Gone and Back Again

Pong-Tron (July 1973) 16

Planting the Seeds for the Future

There’s a Gremlin in the House

Head-On (April 1979) 24 • Monaco GP (November 1979) 27 • Carnival

(July 1980) 29 • Space Fury (July 1981) 31 • Frogger (U.S.—October 1981) 36

Sega’s Innovation Conquers U.S. Arcades (1981–1982)

Turbo (October 1981) 43 • Eliminator (December 1981) 46 • Zaxxon

(U.S.—March 1982) 48 • SUBROC-3D (U.S.—September 1982) 52 • Pengo

(September 1982) 54 • Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom (December 1982) 56

Relaunched in Time for the Crash (1982–1983)

Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (January 1983) 65 • Congo Bongo

(U.S.—March 1983) 69 • Astron Belt (October 1983) 71

Sega Enters a New Era (1984–1985)

Flicky (September 1984) 77 • Ninja Princess/Sega Ninja (March 1985) 81

Sega Enterprises USA (1985)

Choplifter (October 1985) 89 • Hang-On (U.S.—October 1985) 92

A Second Arcade Golden Age (1985–1988)

Space Harrier (December 1985) 100 • Fantasy Zone (March 1986) 102 • Quartet (April 1986) 106 • Wonder Boy (April 1986) 108 • OutRun (September 1986) 112 • Alien Syndrome (April 1987) 114 • SDI (April 1987) 116 • Super ­Hang-On

(U.S.—June 1987) 118 • After Burner (July 1987) 120 • Wonder Boy in Monster

Land (August 1987) 124 • Shinobi (November 1987) 126 • Thunder Blade

(December 1987) 131 • Galaxy Force/Galaxy Force II (April 1988) 132 • Altered Beast (June 1988) 134 • Power Drift (August 1988) 137

Sega Finishes the ’80s Strong

Gain Ground (November 1988) 141 • Super Monaco GP (May 1989) 144 • 

Golden Axe (May 1989) 148 • Mega-Tech Arcade System (1989) 151

Sega’s Famous AM Divisions Emerge

Sega R&D Dept. #1 (AM1) 154 • Sega R&D Dept. #2 (AM2) 155 • Sega R&D

Dept. #3 (AM3) 157 • Sega R&D Dept. #4 (AM4) 157 • Sega R&D Dept. #5 (AM5) 158 • Sega R&D Dept. #6 (AM6) 161 • Sega R&D Dept. #8 (Sonic Team) 161

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Columns (March 1990) 165 • Alien Storm (March 1990) 171 • Bonanza Bros.

(June 1990) 173 • Aurail (October 1990) 174 • Sega R360 (1990) 177 • Rad

Mobile (February 1991) 182 • Time Traveler (September 1991) 184 • Virtua Racing (August 1992) 187 • SegaSonic The Hedgehog (October 1993) 190 • Virtua Fighter (December 1993) 193

Sega Dominates the 3D Era (1993–1994)

Daytona USA (March 1994) 199 • Virtua Cop (September 1994) 204 • Virtua Fighter 2 (November 1994) 206

A Changing of the Guard and Continued Success (1995–1999)

Sega Rally Championship (February 1995) 212 • Virtua Cop 2 (September 1995) 215 • Fighting Vipers (November 1995) 217 • Virtual-On: Cyber Troopers (December 1996) 220 • Die Hard Arcade (July 1996) 222 • The House of the Dead (March 1996) 226 • Top Skater (May 1997) 229 • Daytona USA 2: Battle on the Edge (June 1998) 233 • Spikeout: Digital Battle Online (September 1998) 237 • Crazy

Taxi (February 1999) 240 • Planet Harriers (December 2000) 242

A New Sega for the New Millennium

Reborn and Refocused

New Leadership for Sega Amusements 250 • The Sega/Sammy Merger 253

Sega as an Arcade Center Operator

Sega Centers (1975–1983) 258 • P.J. Pizzazz (1980–Circa 1984) 261 • Sega’s

Time-Out Family Amusement Centers (1986–1990) 263 • Sega VirtuaLand

(1993) 269 • Joypolis (1994) 272 • SegaWorld London (1996–1999) 273 • Sega GameWorks (1997–2011) 276

An Undeniable Legacy

Works Cited

Index